Phantasy Star Online 2 coming westbound

Sega will bring Phantasy Star Online 2 to Europe and Japan early next year, it has said.

The publisher hasn't officially announced the news yet, but fansite PSO-World is carrying the press release of the announcement.

"Phantasy Star Online was a revolutionary game when it was released, and we want to make sure that its successor in the series is every bit as ambitious," said Sega America's VP of digital business Chris Olson.

"We look forward to introducing Phantasy Star Online 2’s unique, easy-to-access multiplayer action to the rest of the world next year!"

PSO2 producer Satoshi Sakai added: "The number one thing we want to provide players in Phantasy Star Online 2 is an adventure that changes every time they log in. Just as great table-top RPG experiences revolve around imaginative and unexpected encounters, we want players to consistently be surprised as they explore dungeons and undertake quests."

Phantasy Star Online 2 will see players take on the D-Arkers in the year 238, the New Era of Light. The gzme will have third-person real-time combat, "a flexible, class-based" leveling system that'll let players how they wish to play, a "deep" character creation, randomnised dungeon maps and surprise encounters during quests.

Players will have the choice of picking between three races: Human, Newmen and CAST.

It'll come to PC in the west, but no mention is made of the Vita version that Sega announced in April, nor of the previously-touted scaled down versions of the game for iOS or Android for Japan.

Phantasy Star Online 2 released in Japan last week for PC as a F2P effort, but will come to retail on September 13. The iOS and Android versions will launch in the country later this year, while the Vita SKU releases in 2013 in Japan.

We'll ask Sega on the Vita and smartphone versions now.